


Kick Me

by marcel



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M, Soccer AU, friendship af - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 11:17:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marcel/pseuds/marcel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>soccer AU. When Luhan's BFF Yixing leaves the team, Luhan is pretty sure he'll never be happy again, until Minseok appears and changes his mind. Eventually.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kick Me

**Author's Note:**

> how hilarious is it that the first thing i write for exo is 15k oh man i crack myself up ANYWAY this is what i accomplished during my first 3 months of university when i should've been reading a philosophy textbook. sorry if it sounds like i have no idea what i'm talking about re: soccer, its because i literally have no idea what i'm talking about. massive thank you to bruna, who i'm going to marry on a soccer field, and to lauren for getting me back into kpop. bless ur hearts.
> 
> edit 151008: 2 yrs later lmao i've updated the tags and also taking out the sequel-lead-in bit at the very end. i always felt weird abt that part tbh. the way it ends now is How It Should've Gone. hope yall like this story as much as i liked writing it ♡

Luhan wakes up to Apink blaring out of his alarm and feels immediately like he’s forgotten something.

He figures, maybe, it’s because the alarm jolts him out of a sound sleep, strategically placed about two feet from his head - but he learned long ago how to excavate one of his arms from his blanket cocoon and turn it off before the first chorus. Besides, _NoNoNo_ is his jam.

He rolls over and opens his eyes, blinking until his bedroom comes into focus. Sunlight streams in from the gap between his curtains, striping across one wall in a way that Luhan would appreciate, if not for the long shadow cast by the single thumbtack stuck into it.

There’s supposed to be a calendar hanging there. It’s on the floor instead, pages splayed out and looking quite possibly bent. Luhan blinks some more, then cautiously slides out of bed.

He picks up the calendar and smooths the cover, frowning at one folded corner. It looks a bit like it’s been thrown across a room or two. Half asleep and more than a little confused, Luhan starts flipping through the pages, looking for the October header he’s gotten used to.

He finds the right page and opens the calendar fully, holding it up with one hand to look at the dates. One day is circled three times in red, and oh. Right.

Today is October the twelfth. Today is soccer tryouts. Luhan drops the calendar onto the floor and flops back down on his bed. Today is the day they find a replacement for Yixing.

Luhan isn’t ready for this.

\--

Their team - the Wolves, because team captain Kris thinks it sounds cool - is meant to be small: two defenders, two forwards, three midfielders and a goalkeeper, playing eight-versus-eight in their Very Unofficial college league with any other team willing to play with them. It can’t get much smaller, though, not when one player is more than ten percent of their lineup. Luhan likes it anyway, likes knowing the moves of each of his teammates and the closeness that comes from that. Even with just one player missing, the entire team has to step around the empty space they leave.

And so, when Yixing told him that he was quitting the team, it was a bit of a downer.

More than a downer, actually, if Luhan’s being honest with himself. Much worse than a downer. A bit more like having a limb taken off. But Luhan tries not to think about it.

Yixing tells the rest of the team while they’re out getting dinner together, celebrating a recent win. Zitao cries in the middle of the restaurant. They exchange more hugs at the door than they usually would. Kris sends out an email two days later with potential dates for tryouts, to find someone to fill Yixing’s position.

Luhan realises, after slamming his laptop shut, that everyone else is just letting Yixing go, that they’re somehow okay with this, and he’s not.

Maybe it’s because he and Yixing are the team’s forwards, and Luhan plays more by his side than anyone else’s. Maybe it’s more about how Luhan will have the most work to do, learning how to team up with an entirely new player.

Maybe it’s because Yixing is his best friend, and Luhan worries that Yixing is leaving an empty space on more than just the field.

\--

Tryouts are held in the gymnasium, and Luhan doesn’t go. The entire team is supposed to be there to help decide, but he only gets as far as the front doors before he turns in the complete opposite direction and heads for the soccer field instead.

It’s not actually a soccer field, just a flat expanse of grass in a generally empty park, but it’s big enough for them to mark out boundary lines without hitting any trees. Luhan drops his sports bag by one of the goalposts and takes out his soccer ball, dribbling it to one side of what’s supposed to be the halfway line. He runs forward and kicks it into the empty net, retrieves it, and backs up to do it again.

It’s relaxing, usually, but Luhan keeps catching himself glancing at the space beside him on the field, where Yixing should be. Or, at least, where Yixing _would_ be if there weren’t tryouts today, because Yixing would’ve listened to Kris and gone to tryouts. Luhan, on the other hand, isn’t really up for watching a bunch of strangers run around and kick things. Especially when one of those strangers will, inevitably, be chosen to take up Yixing’s position.

That’s the worst part, Luhan thinks - they’re not just getting a new player, they’re getting a new forward. He’ll have to work with whoever it is no matter what, because forwards need to be able to team up. With Yixing, Luhan had rhythm. They knew when to back each other up and when to get out of each other’s way. He knew Yixing’s moves almost as well as he knew his own - and now he’ll have to learn someone else entirely.

And, what if they’re _weird?_

Luhan takes one final shot and flops down on his back in the grass, throwing one arm over his eyes. Getting out of bed hadn’t been a very good idea on his part.

He uncovers his face when he hears someone shuffling through the grass, and looks up just as Chanyeol trips over his own feet and nearly falls down next to him.

Chanyeol is, somehow, their goalkeeper. No one really understands how his limbs only seem to work when he’s in front of the net, but no one dares question it, either.

“Hey,” he says, grinning down at Luhan. “What’re you doing?”

“Oh, you know,” Luhan sighs, sitting up. “Regretting my decision to wake up this morning, nothing new.”

Chanyeol nods, grabbing Luhan’s hand and pulling him up. “I thought you might be, like, avoiding Kris by taking a nap? ‘Cause I’ve definitely done that before.”

“I’m not avoiding Kris,” Luhan says, watching Chanyeol jog over to the net to retrieve his ball. “Why would I be avoiding him?”

Chanyeol kicks the ball back to Luhan and shrugs. “I just figured, since you didn’t reply to the facebook message he sent last night. Or the group text from like, an hour ago.”

“Yes, well--”

“Or the other group text ten minutes ago asking why you weren’t at--”

Luhan suddenly kicks the ball toward the net, and Chanyeol lunges to one side to block it. “How do you know I’m not avoiding someone else on the team?” he huffs. “Maybe it’s you.”

Chanyeol pauses, thinking about it, then tosses the ball to Luhan again. “Well, you didn’t run away when I first arrived, so...”

“Okay, it’s not you. But it could be anyone else,” Luhan insists. “The point is, I’m not avoiding Kris. So don’t worry about it.”

“If you say so,” Chanyeol sing-songs, and grins as he catches the next shot Luhan takes.

He does worry about it, though, and Luhan feels prickles of discomfort watching Chanyeol bite his lips to keep from saying anything else. They continue their back-and-forth with the ball until a shot goes too wide and Luhan has to run off the field to retrieve it, and just as he sets it down on by his feet again, Chanyeol takes a deep breath.

“So, tryouts,” he starts, attempting to sound casual, but the word twists something in Luhan’s gut right as he’s winding up for a kick. He hits the ball a bit too hard, and it goes higher than he meant it to.

Much, much higher.

The ball hits Chanyeol in the face.

“Shit, sorry,” Luhan gasps, rushing over to the net. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to--”

Chanyeol waves him off with one hand, the other clamped firmly over his nose. “I’m good,” he says, eyes watering. “I’m just gonna… wow. Ouch.” He stands still for a moment, one arm outstretched like he’s finding his balance, then winces and huffs out a dazed sort of laugh. “I think I need some ice.”

Luhan watches him stumble off the field towards the gym, feeling worse than he had earlier. It figures, he supposes, that he’d end up almost breaking the nose of the first person who tried to help him out. He sits down with a sigh, stretching out in the grass again and staring up at the cloudy sky.

Chanyeol is right, though - Luhan had been blatantly ignoring all messages from the team. He knows it’s childish and that he’ll eventually have to deal with the new player, whoever it is, but a few hours with his phone turned off is a few hours where he can pretend nothing is changing.

The universe, however, doesn’t like that, and before Luhan can react, Kris appears out of nowhere and sits down next to him.

He freezes, bracing himself for a stern talking-to or even just a glare, but Kris stays quiet. He doesn’t even glance at Luhan, just gazes around the park like he’s just there to enjoy the scenery. Luhan contemplates crawling away, mentally calculating how far he would need to go before he could get up and sprint, when Kris suddenly speaks up.

“I heard you kicked Chanyeol in the face.”

“I kicked the _ball_ ,” Luhan says sharply. “It’s not my fault he didn’t catch it.”

Humming, Kris leans back on his hands. “I don’t think he was expecting it to come flying at his head, is all.” He turns to look at Luhan, eyebrows raised, and Luhan lasts all of three seconds before he sighs and sits up.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, staring down at the grass. “I really didn’t mean to hit him.”

Kris shrugs. “Chanyeol’s tough, he’ll be okay.” He pauses, glancing at Luhan again. “I’m more concerned about you.”

Luhan forces a laugh. “I thought Zitao was your favourite, _duìzhǎng_.”

“Zitao isn’t our striker,” Kris says, frowning. “You are.”

“So?”

“So, you don’t usually miss.” Kris gives him a serious look. “The net, I mean. You definitely didn’t miss Chanyeol.”

“I know, okay,” Luhan groans, pressing his hands over his eyes. “There’s just… things.”

“Ah,” he hears Kris say. There’s an awkward sort of pause, during which Luhan knows Kris is choosing his next words very carefully. “How are… things?”

“If that’s supposed to be some roundabout way of asking if I’m alright,” Luhan deadpans, uncovering his face, “then yes. I’m fine.”

Kris hesitates for a moment, then nods and moves to stand up, but gets only half way before he carefully sits back down. Luhan’s sigh of relief gets caught in his throat as Kris takes a breath and meets his eyes.

“I know you don’t want to talk about tryouts.”

Luhan would rather get hit in the face twice as hard as Chanyeol than talk about tryouts. “What gave you that idea?”

Kris ignores him. “It’s hard, I get it. But this is important for everyone on the team. Especially you--”

“Okay, okay,” Luhan cuts him off. “Just. Did you pick someone already? Don’t tell me a name, just yes or no.”

“Yeah, we did.”

Luhan nods slowly. “On a scale of one to Yixing, how good is he?”

“I can’t compare him to Yixing right off the bat,” Kris sighs, and Luhan sits up a little straighter.

“So he’s not as good?”

“No, that’s not--” He cuts off, pinching the bridge of his nose. “He’s different, okay? Everyone is different. I can’t measure anyone on a scale of one to Yixing, because no one is Yixing _except_ Yixing.”

“I guess.” Luhan lets out a long breath. “But… he’s okay, right? The new guy? He’s not weird or anything?”

Kris laughs, standing up for real this time. “To be completely honest with you, I have no idea,” he says, then nudges Luhan with his foot. “I wouldn’t worry. He can’t be any worse than you.”

Luhan glares at him, so Kris ruffles his hair instead. “I’ll see you at practice. Go home and eat something, okay?”

“Whatever,” Luhan huffs, but he still bumps Kris’ fist with his own in farewell, and watches him walk back across the field.

He gets up eventually, deciding to follow Kris’ advice and just go home. He picks up his ball from in front of the net and puts it back in his sports bag, and is bent down to zip it up when he hears someone else coming towards him.

“Seriously,” Luhan whines, straightening up and turning around. “Is the entire team trying to pep talk me today, or--”

He stops and closes his mouth when he realises the boy approaching him isn’t someone he recognizes - reddish hair, sharp brows, and round cheeks that look a bit flushed, like he’s out of breath. He’s got cleats on, though, and Luhan wonders if he’s from a different team.

“Uh, hi,” the boy says, waving a little. “You’re Luhan, right? The striker?”

Luhan nods slowly. “For the Wolves, yeah.”

The boy lets out a relieved sigh. “Ah, good. I’m glad I found you here. I thought I wouldn’t get to meet you until practice tomorrow.”

Luhan hums and bends back down to pick up his bag. He really just wants to go home, not deal with-- whatever this guy is. Luhan’s had fans before, but most of them were girls from the college, and none of them came to practice. Kris made sure than no one, other than the team members, was allowed.

Team members. Luhan blinks, and spins back around.

“You’re the new forward,” he says, and the boy smiles, nodding. _Replacement_ , Luhan’s brain yells, but Luhan ignores it. “Sorry, I didn’t even--”

The boy waves him off, laughing. “It’s okay, I didn’t give you anything to go on. I’ll try again.” He straightens up, clears his throat, and smiles.

“I’m Minseok.” He sticks out his hand and Luhan takes it without thinking. “I guess we’re teammates, now.”

“Okay,” Luhan says. Minseok’s palm is warm.

“Sorry to catch you just as you’re packing up,” Minseok sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I’ll see you tomorrow, right? First practice as a whole team?”

 _First practice without Yixing_ , Luhan’s brain reminds him. He drops Minseok’s hand and picks up his sports bag. “See you then,” he says, bright as he can manage, and makes himself smile before he walks away.

He ignores the delighted expression on Minseok’s face. Definitely doesn’t think about it the whole way home.

\--

The next day, Luhan purposefully shows up to practice twenty minutes late.

Kris nods at him but doesn’t say anything, already leading everyone else onto the field to run whatever drills he’s decided on. Luhan almost wishes he would come over and tell him off, just to regain some sense of normalcy - but maybe he should just resign himself to the fact that practice probably won’t feel normal for a long time. Or ever again.

The others have already done their warm ups, so Luhan stretches by himself on the sidelines as they start up. Kris demonstrates some sort of agility exercise, and they run it one by one - or at least, they try, because Chanyeol trips four steps into it and Joonmyun, a midfielder, is nearly wheezing by the end of his turn.

Luhan doesn’t pay much attention, more focused on preventing shin splints, until he hears the team give an excited yell and he glances up to see Minseok taking position at the start of the run. The determined look on his face seems entirely different from the smiley boy Luhan had met yesterday, but before he can think too hard about it Minseok takes off, dribbling a ball between his feet as he runs the course.

He’s good, quick and neat with his footwork even doing figure-eights, and as the rest of the team cheers him on, Luhan has to admit that it’s impressive. It’s sort of upsetting only because he can’t bring himself to be upset about it, can’t really do anything other than watch Minseok weave his way around back to the goal line and immediately get pulled into a hug by Zitao. Even Kris gives him a nod of approval, and the others applaud as they move on to a different drill.

Luhan takes a deep breath and jogs onto the field to join them. He stops beside Chanyeol, who grins and flings an arm around his shoulders.

“Finally,” he laughs. “I thought you weren’t going to show up. Tough morning?”

“Something like that,” Luhan sighs. “How’s your… face?”

“Not even swollen,” Chanyeol says proudly. Luhan nods and tries to focus on what Kris is saying, but Chanyeol jabs him in the ribs to get his attention back. “Hey, did you see the new guy earlier? Minseok?”

Luhan smacks his hands away. “Yeah, what about him?”

Chanyeol grins even wider, if that’s possible. “He was good, right? Like, _so good_. Better than I thought he’d be.” He glances over to where Minseok is standing with Joonmyun, both listening intently to Kris’ instructions. “I mean, the dude knows his shit.”

“I guess,” Luhan murmurs, watching as Minseok snickers at something Zitao whispers in his ear. He looks nice when he smiles. Before Luhan lets himself continue with that thought, he tears his gaze away and bends down to tighten his cleats.

So what if Minseok is actually really good at soccer and moves better than most people Luhan has ever seen? So what if he’s looks truly grateful for everyone’s encouragement? So what if the rest of the team seems to genuinely like him and it’s looking like he’ll be a great addition to their lineup?

Whatever. No matter what, it won’t be the same as it was, because Yixing isn’t there.

Luhan stands back up just in time to hear Kris say something about getting into pairs, and sort of wishes he had been more than half-listening to his instructions. He considers just latching onto Chanyeol’s arm and demanding they be partners - after all, Chanyeol couldn’t have been paying much more attention than him.

“Defenders and forwards go together, okay,” Kris calls, effectively foiling Luhan’s plan. “Chanyeol, partner with Joonmyun, and Zitao, you’re with me.”

Everyone moves off to find their partner - Kyungsoo and Sehun execute their secret defender handshake, and there’s a muffled yell as Chanyeol takes a running jump at Joonmyun - and Luhan barely takes two steps before Minseok is at his side, still smiling. He falters when he sees Luhan’s expression, tilting his head in concern. “You okay?”

“Just tired,” Luhan says, turning to follow the rest of the pairs toward the halfway line. Minseok jogs after him. “Anyway, do you know what we’re about to do right now? ‘Cause I definitely only heard about half of it.”

Minseok laughs, relaxing again. “That’s okay, I’ll show you.”

Luhan manages to stumble through the rest of practice without cursing Kris’ name, even when he’s put with Minseok for all of their partner drills that day. It’s not bad, working with him - he’s quick to pick things up and even matches Luhan’s pace most of the time - but it’s uncomfortable, still too different from what Luhan is used to.

He rushes through his post-practice shower and speedwalks out of the change room before anyone, let alone Minseok, can talk to him.

\--

Their next two practices that week are much the same: Luhan avoids making any real effort with Minseok and leaves as soon as Kris tells them they can pack up. Once, he catches Joonmyun staring at him worriedly and immediately turns away. It’s not like anything can be done, after all - or at least, nothing that the other members can help with. For the time being, it’s easier for Luhan to avoid Minseok’s gaze than to make inevitably-awkward conversation.

At the beginning of their fourth Yixing-less practice, Kris announces that they have a challenger.

“The college’s girls’ team wants to face us in a ‘friendly practice game’,” he explains, using air-quotes. “It won’t be a real match since they don’t play in our league, but we’re still going to take it seriously.”

Kyungsoo nods slowly. “By which you mean you still expect us to win?”

“Obviously,” Kris says.

They start when the girls’ team arrives, after Kris takes a moment to greet one player named Amber and inform her that she’s going to lose. She just laughs, and they take to their separate sides of the field.

Luhan assumes it’ll be easy. It’s a bit weird playing with girls instead of boys, but even Joonmyun stops hesitating when Amber trips him and steals the ball with a grin.

“You said this would be friendly,” he whines from the ground, and Sehun nudges him with his foot until he drags himself up.

“‘Friendly’ is a relative term,” Kris calls, blocking the pass Amber tries to make, and the game goes on.

It comes to a head in the last few minutes, when Luhan is sprinting towards the goal with the ball at his feet. A defender suddenly blocks his path, and before he can dart away there are others coming up behind him. He glances to the side, switching his footing to prepare for a pass--

But Yixing isn’t there. Instead it’s Minseok, clearly open but too far back, and Luhan fumbles with the ball before one of the girls sweeps it away from him and takes off. He turns to go after her, but his feet won’t move how he wants them to anymore, so he stumbles a few steps before deciding it isn’t worth it.

The game ends only a couple minutes later, and while everyone congregates on the centerline to congratulate each other, Kris immediately stalks over to Luhan.

“What the hell was that?” He looks genuinely confused, and more than a little angry.

Luhan opens and closes his mouth a few times. “I don’t know,” he manages to stammer. “It wasn’t-- I don’t know, I’m--”

“You froze up.”

“No, I just--”

“Whatever it was,” Kris says, already stepping back, “figure it out, and don’t let it happen again.”

Luhan looks down and nods, face burning. It was bad enough to get called out by the team captain, but even worse that Kris wouldn’t even properly yell at him. No ‘ _get your shit together, Luhan_ ’. Just ‘ _figure it out_ ’.

It would’ve been fine if Minseok hadn’t distracted him.

He waits until Kris is a fair distance away before whirling around and storming over to the crowd of players across the field. Rage is bubbling in his chest, but it’s not until Minseok looks up and sees him coming that Luhan realises he doesn’t really have anything to be angry about. Not with Minseok, at least.

What’s he going to say, _you aren’t Yixing and I’m mad about it_? Yeah, excellent.

Minseok breaks away from the crowd to meet Luhan halfway, and right when Luhan is considering last-minute evasive manoeuvers, he stops in front of him and speaks first.

“I’m really sorry,” he says. Luhan stares at him.

“What?”

“This must be tough for you,” Minseok continues, frowning at the ground. “We haven’t played much together, and I keep hearing about this legendary partnership that was you and Yixing, and--” He pauses to sigh, keeping his gaze down. “I’m sorry I’m not as good as he was. He probably would’ve been there - on the field earlier, I mean. He would’ve known what you were doing. It’s my fault that we messed up.”

Luhan has never felt like so much of a douchebag as he does in this moment, watching Minseok stare down at the grass and shuffle his feet.

“It’s alright,” he says quickly, “It’s not you, I should’ve-- Yixing was-- You’re really good, okay.”

Minseok glances up at that, and Luhan feels all of his anger from earlier disappear. “Do you want to, like. Get coffee or something?” It’s not exactly how he was planning to end the conversation, but Minseok is smiling again, so he figures it’ll be okay. “I’ll pay for it.”

“Okay,” Minseok says with a nod, and they walk side-by-side towards the change room.

\--

The coffee shop closest to the park is never very busy, so Luhan easily snags his favourite table by the front window, practically throwing himself into a chair. Minseok follows him over, coffee in hand, and sits across from him, gingerly settling into the seat and looking generally uncomfortable.

They had both been silent on the walk over, neither of them brave enough to start a conversation. Luhan had taken a deep breath at one point, building himself up to ask what classes Minseok took, but just as he opened his mouth a truck zoomed by, loud on the wet street. He didn’t try again.

But now, watching Minseok sit straight-backed and unmoving even with the bright, warm shop as the background, Luhan kind of wants to kick him under the table.

“Are you going to drink that?” he asks instead, gesturing to Minseok’s still-full cup. Minseok looks a bit startled at Luhan’s voice, but quickly takes a sip and sets it back down. “That’s better,” Luhan says, leaning back in his chair. “You know, if you didn’t want coffee you could’ve just said--”

“But I do want it,” Minseok says quickly, wrapping both hands around his cup. “Thank you for buying it for me. I’m just still… I’m sorry about earlier.” His gaze drops. “Again.”

“You don’t need to be sorry,” Luhan says. “It’s not your fault that Yixing-- that he left.” He looks down at his coffee, watches the steam waft off it. “I mean, if anything, it’s _his_ fault that you’re here, right?”

Minseok laughs a little, relaxing into his seat the slightest bit. “Well, I want to thank him for it. The team is really great.” Luhan nods, and they both take quiet sips.

Another few seconds of silence pass before Minseok clears his throat and puts his cup down. “Why did Yixing leave?” he asks, almost timid. “I-if you don’t mind me asking.”

“It’s fine,” Luhan says, casual as he can manage with his chest suddenly feeling tighter. “It’s not, like, top secret or anything.”

Minseok nods, relieved. “I heard Zitao say something about a different school?”

“Yeah, he, uh.” Luhan takes a deep breath, steadying his voice. “He really liked to dance. And a few weeks ago he got accepted into this place for performing arts. If he went there, he wouldn’t have time for, you know.” He coughs. “Practice. The team in general. He knew that.”

Minseok frowns. “But…?”

Luhan takes another breath. “But, he went anyway.”

“He must really love dancing, then,” Minseok says after a moment, tapping his fingers on the edge of his cup. “It must’ve been hard for him to leave.”

“I guess.”

“That’s hard on you guys too, though.” He takes another sip. “Losing such a good player, I mean.”

“Yeah,” Luhan sighs, remembering past-midnight bus rides and nights spent on Yixing’s floor. “He was always good.”

Minseok hums, and Luhan looks up to watch him stare out the window. The sun is going down, and the fading light paints him in soft orange. Luhan’s chest doesn’t feel quite so tight anymore.

“Minseok,” he says, and the other boy nearly jumps.

“... Luhan?”

“Let’s win the next game, okay?” In his head it sounded a bit more inspiring, but he supposes it comes out okay anyway, because Minseok grins.

“Hell yeah,” he laughs, and they bump their coffee cups together in a toast.

\--

After that, Luhan starts making an active effort to get to practice on time. It really is better to warm up with the rest of the team, and besides, doing lunges by himself had been getting a little lonely.

Kris decides on partnered drills again, but Luhan doesn’t mind as much as he thought he would - especially not when Minseok bounds over to him with a grin, and he can’t help smiling back.

The team splits up for rounds of 2-versus-2, and Luhan and Minseok take on the defense line. Kyungsoo and Sehun are harmless enough, but Luhan takes a moment before they start to remind Minseok of Kyungsoo’s uncanny ability to appear completely innocent even while tripping someone. They both get knocked down anyway, but end up winning in the end.

Teams rotate and they lose to Kris and Zitao in their next round. It’s okay, though, because Kris had paused the entire game just to bend down and re-tie Zitao’s cleats, and Luhan and Minseok were too busy trying to keep from laughing to focus on defending their goal.

It’s a bit weird, Luhan supposes when they move onto something in larger groups. He had tried to come to terms with the fact that soccer practice would suck forever, but here he is, having fun. He and Minseok are working better together as well, their tentatively-formed friendship apparently making all the difference.

But he catches himself when they’re taking shots on net - he glances to his side, sees Minseok there, and makes a pass seamlessly. It’s not until after Minseok kicks the ball into the goal and circles back for a high five that Luhan realises he had actually been looking for Minseok to be there, in position. Not Yixing.

Actually, he hasn’t really thought about Yixing all practice, hasn’t remembered to be sad about him not being there. His stomach twists, and he turns away before Minseok reaches him.

He doesn’t _want_ to be sad about Yixing, but being sad is better than forgetting how things used to be. Minseok might be good, but he’s not as good as Yixing was. It still won’t be the same.

So later in the day, when Minseok slips in the grass and reaches out to Luhan for a hand up, Luhan pretends not to see. Minseok frowns, but lets Zitao help him up instead.

And even later, during their last drill before the end of practice, when Sehun accidentally kicks Luhan in the shin and Minseok rushes over to make sure he’s okay, Luhan waves him away and gets up to walk it off by himself. Briefly cursing Sehun and his apparent lack of foot-eye coordination, Luhan does one half-limped lap around the park before walking extra slow back to the change room.

Everyone seems to have already left when he enters, so he takes his time changing back into jeans and sneakers. He decides he’ll shower when he gets home, not really wanting to stick around longer than he has to. He’s slinging his bag over his shoulder when one of the shower stall doors clicks open and Luhan turns around just as Minseok steps out, with wet hair and a towel around his waist.

“Oh,” he says, blinking at Luhan in surprise. “I thought you left already.”

Luhan tears his eyes away from the drop of water creeping over Minseok’s clavicle and tries his best to smile. “I walk very slowly,” he forces out, and Minseok gives him a puzzled sort of smile back.

“Is your leg okay?” he asks, moving over to the bench where his clothes and bag are. Luhan definitely doesn’t pay any attention whatsoever to the stretch of his spine as he leans over, or the beads of water glistening there. Especially when Minseok glances up at him, and they both blink at each other for a moment before Luhan remembers that there was a question asked.

“Fine,” he says quickly. “It’s fine.” Minseok nods, going back to sorting out his clothes. Luhan resists the urge to literally cover his eyes. Maybe Sehun’s steel-toe cleats did something to his head as well as his shin.

“I’m glad,” Minseok sighs. He pulls out a pair of jeans and straightens up. “I think Kris would kill you if you got injured.”

“He’s killed for less,” Luhan says absent-mindedly, watching as Minseok tugs the towel up from where it had slipped down a little. His hipbones are just barely visible over the edge of it. Luhan catches himself wishing for the towel to slip again.

“I,” he starts, rather eloquently. “I need to go.”

Minseok looks up, confused, but Luhan is already backing out of the change room. “Um, okay,” he calls after him. “I’ll see you next week, I guess?”

Luhan manages a half-hearted wave before pushing through the door and nearly collapsing against the wall outside. He feels bad, leaving Minseok alone so suddenly, but…

He pictures, for a moment, the water droplets running down Minseok’s chest, before remembering that it’s probably creepy to be able to call up that image at will. Luhan is not creepy. He refuses to be creepy. He’s sure he was entirely normal before Yixing left.

Maybe that’s it, he decides, glancing at the change room door before pushing off from the wall and starting to walk. Maybe he just needs some familiarity.

\--

It’s a half-hour bus ride to Yixing’s school, and it takes Luhan a further fifteen minutes to find the right studio, but he doesn’t mind so much. It’s all worth it when he shoves the studio door open and tackles Yixing to the ground, anyway. The hardwood floor hurts a bit, but Yixing is there and laughing with him for the first time in what feels like months, and Luhan can’t quite bring himself to stand up.

He takes a moment to be glad that no one is around to witness the scene they’re making, rolling around on the floor - no one except a sleepy-looking kid off to one side (Jongin, Yixing will introduce him later), who glances at them only once and then goes back to pirouetting in front of the mirror. Yixing, however, hasn’t lost any of his wriggle-out-of-Luhan’s-deathgrip skill, and so it’s not long before they’re right-side-up and bidding Jongin farewell as they exit the studio.

When they get onto the street Luhan looks up at the darkening sky with a frown. “Do your classes always go this late?”

“Class has been over for more than an hour already,” Yixing says with a shrug. “I just like to stay late. Jongin and I usually do.”

Luhan squints at him. “You guys _like_ staying at school for longer than you have to?”

“Sure, yeah,” Yixing says, and starts to walk up the street. “It’s nice, it doesn’t really feel like school.”

“You’re weird,” Luhan sighs, but follows him anyway.

They walk in silence for a few minutes before Yixing clears his throat and nudges Luhan with his hip. “So? How’s the team?”

“They’re fine,” Luhan says. “Except maybe Chanyeol, he needs to stop saving goals with his face.”

“Ah.” Yixing nods understandingly. “And how’s the new player? Minseok, was it?”

“He’s--” Luhan swallows thickly. “He’s… nice.”

“Is he good?”

Taking a deep breath, Luhan fixes his gaze on the sidewalk. “Not as good as you,” he says quickly, not even bothering to try and stop the words. “No one is.”

Yixing rolls his eyes. “Luhan--”

“It’s weird, okay,” he presses on, speaking over Yixing but still not looking up. “It’s so weird not having you on the field with us. I keep looking over and thinking you’ll be there but you’re not, and it’s... weird.”

“That’ll change though, won’t it?” Yixing says, cocking his head with a smile. “Especially if you have Minseok with you, right?”

“I guess,” Luhan replies, keeping his face carefully blank.

Yixing’s smile disappears. “Hey, don’t do that.” He ducks his head, trying to catch Luhan’s eyes. “What’s wrong? Is there something with Minseok--”

“It’s nothing,” Luhan says exasperatedly, and stops walking. “Minseok is fine, there’s literally nothing wrong with him. I was worried he’d be weird but he’s not, he works well with everyone and he’s funny and he’s nice. I mean, he’s not _you_ \--” he glances up at Yixing for a moment and immediately drops his eyes back down. “--but I’m the only one having an issue with that. I guess I’m actually the weird one, huh?” His mouth twists into some semblance of a smile, but Yixing doesn’t return it.

“I just. Miss you a lot.”

Yixing frowns and puts a hand on Luhan’s shoulder. “I’m still here.”

“I want you to be _there_ , though,” Luhan mumbles. “On the field with me.”

The words are barely out of his mouth before Yixing is grabbing his arms and pulling him into a tight hug. Luhan drops his head onto Yixing’s shoulder and lets out a shuddery breath.

“I wasn’t trying to make you sad, when I left,” Yixing says against his neck. “I didn’t want to make anyone sad. I liked playing soccer, and I liked being on the team, and I liked having you as a partner. But dancing is… different. Good different.” He pulls back just enough to meet Luhan’s eyes, smiling shyly. “It’s something I love, and I’m… I’m really happy.”

Luhan nods and moves to pull away, but Yixing grabs his hands. “I want you to be happy, too,” he says. “Even if I’m not around, I’m still here for you. I’m still _me_ , just... without the soccer jersey.” Luhan laughs at that, and Yixing smiles wide and pulls him in for another hug.

Luhan definitely doesn’t cry, but maybe his eyes get a bit wet from the figurative wave of relief that washes over him. It’s just nice, he supposes as they continue up the street, to have his best friend back - even if he never really left at all.

\--

It’s a few days later when Luhan catches himself feeling excited for soccer practice that he realises the weight of Being Sad About Yixing is gone from his shoulders. It’s still a little upsetting to go without him, but it’s not completely crippling as it once was. Yixing is doing something that makes him happy, after all, and Luhan is pretty sure he can be okay with that.

The thing now is, he had been so sad for so long that he’s not sure if he knows how to not be. He supposes it’ll be a bit like those times with Minseok where he momentarily forgot to be sad - but that leads to another problem entirely.

Luhan was so crushed by the thought of being left alone by one person, so focused on being lonely, that he didn’t notice how many other people were around. Specifically, the team.

Even more specifically, Minseok.

Luhan knows he hasn’t been quite as open and inclusive towards Minseok as some of the other members have. But he also knows that, during the times when he did let himself work with Minseok, they went well together. If they’d been teammates under different circumstances, they probably would’ve been friends right off the bat.

But alas, the circumstances aren’t different, and Luhan’s been kind of a dick. He leaves his apartment with new determination - from this day forward, he’ll be a better team member and a better forward player, and he’ll definitely find a way to be proper friends with Minseok.

\--

The thing is, Minseok is really hot.

It hits Luhan like a truck while the team is warming up before practice. One moment Minseok is bending over to touch his toes, and the next Luhan is wishing he remembered enough high school math to calculate the curve of Minseok’s spine as he straightens up.

“Your face is all red,” Sehun says as he walks by, and Luhan’s hands fly up to cover his cheeks.

“No, it’s not.”

Sehun just laughs. “It’s like a stop-sign and we haven’t even started running yet. What were you thinking about?”

“No one. Nothing. It’s so warm out today.” Luhan avoids Sehun’s confused stare and looks around at their frosty surroundings. “Wow, the heat. Aren’t you warm?”

“... It’s almost November.”

Luhan shoves him and jogs over to the sidelines to find his water bottle. He hopes he’ll be back to his usual pale pigment before Kris decides, inevitably, to start with partnered drills. Uncapping the bottle, he turns back to the field to glare at Sehun, but his eyes find Minseok instead.

He’s on tiptoe, reaching as high as he can before lowering his heels back to the ground and shuffling into a bit wider stance. He leans to one side, clasping his hands above his head to stretch his arms and shoulders. As he bends, his shirt rides up on one side, revealing a stripe of pale skin and the jut of his hip. Luhan tips his water bottle too far back and half of it goes down his front.

He shrieks a little, because as much as he hates when Sehun is right, it _is_ almost November, and iced water in his shirt is not something he needs at ten in the morning. Minseok drops his arms and looks over at him - the entire team, does, actually - and Luhan tries his best to smile. Minseok doesn’t smile back.

It throws Luhan off so much that he forgets about the cold, watching Minseok turn away from him and continue stretching. He’s not sure he can remember any other point in time where Minseok hadn’t immediately flashed him a grin. He stares after him until Kyungsoo throws a towel at his head, and then sits on the sidelines to warm up and try to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in his chest. He’s pretty sure it has nothing to do with being cold.

Minseok barely looks at Luhan for the rest of practice, even when they’re partnered together, and by the end of it Luhan is ready to admit that he misses the other boy’s smile. It doesn’t help that Luhan’s mouth goes dry whenever Minseok is close to him, and so by the time he forces his tongue to form words Minseok is already walking away. Luhan doesn’t trust his voice not to squeak if he were to call after him, so he just watches him go with a frown.

After practice, Minseok leaves the change room without looking at him, and Luhan resists the urge to cry in the showers.

“He won’t stick around long enough for me to get two words out,” he complains to Chanyeol as they walk back across the field. “I just want to tell him I’m sorry for being a douche.”

Chanyeol scratches his head. “Maybe the field isn’t the best place to talk. Especially when we’re like, mid-game?”

“Where else would I talk to him?” Luhan whines. “I don’t know where he lives, I don’t even have his phone number--”

“I could invite him to my place for something,” Chanyeol says, tapping his chin. “And then you could show up too, and then I’d conveniently leave, and he’d have to talk to you.”

“He’s not stupid,” Luhan sighs, shaking his head. “He’d know we set it up. And then he’d leave and hate me forever.”

Chanyeol hums. “Okay, I’ve got an idea. Don’t make any plans this weekend, alright?”

Luhan squints at him. “Should I be worried? I feel like I should be worried.”

“You wound me,” Chanyeol says with a grin. “Just trust me, I’ll handle this.”

\--

Chanyeol’s idea turns out to be, in bright red bold lettering in Luhan’s email inbox the next day, a team-only party at his apartment, for which alcohol will be supplied and attendance is mandatory. It’s pretty good, Luhan has to admit - friendly atmosphere to safely start conversation in, and if things with Minseok go to shit, he can get smashed.

Besides, there are worse ways he could spend his saturday.

And so, Luhan finds himself at Chanyeol’s doorstep, jittery hands in the pockets of the jeans it had taken him an hour in front of his mirror to decide on. He’s not _nervous_ , he insists to himself. He just really, really, really doesn’t want Minseok to hate him.

Chanyeol opens the door and immediately holds out his hand. “Car keys.”

Luhan blinks at him. “I don’t have a car.”

“Bus pass, then,” Chanyeol says, beckoning with his fingers. “You need to swap me something In exchange for alcohol so I can be sure you won’t do anything dumb.”

“I’m not drinking,” Luhan sighs, trying to peek past Chanyeol into the room behind him. “I’m here to give an apology, remember?”

“Oh, right.” He steps out of the way so Luhan can enter, and closes the door behind him. “I guess you can keep poor underage baby Sehun company.”

Luhan snickers and follows Chanyeol into the living room, where the rest of the team is already seated and talking. A murmur of greeting goes around the room when he walks in, and even Minseok looks up at him, but drops his gaze before Luhan can lift his hand to wave. Frowning, Luhan sits down on the couch next to Sehun, who is too busy glaring across the room at the red plastic cup in Joonmyun’s hand to say hello.

Minseok appears to be deep in conversation with Zitao, as far as Luhan can tell by staring at the back of his head, and doesn’t once turn away to look in Luhan’s direction. It’s a bit disheartening, considering Luhan hasn’t even said anything to him yet. Maybe Chanyeol’s plan wasn’t so good after all.

He’s debating how long he should stay before faking sick and going home when Baekhyun, Chanyeol’s roommate, sits on the floor by his feet and offers him his drink. Luhan smiles but waves it away.

“You’re not designated driver, are you?” Baekhyun asks, wrinkling his nose.

Luhan shakes his head. “Nah, there’s just… something I was going to do later that I figured I should be sober for.” He glances at Minseok again. “Now, I’m not so sure.”

“Not sure if you’re doing the thing, or if you’re drinking?”

“Uh. Both?”

Baekhyun shrugs and sips his drink. “That’s cool. One less mess I have to clean up tomorrow.”

Luhan snorts. “It’s Chanyeol’s party, why are _you_ the one cleaning up?”

“Because I’m _always_ the one who cleans up,” Baekhyun deadpans.

Grimacing, Luhan looks around the room, picturing how much messier it could get over the evening. “And how did Chanyeol get you to agree to this?”

“He didn’t,” Baekhyun says, shooting a glare at Chanyeol where he’s fiddling with the stereo on the other side of the couch. “But he’s also going to do all the cooking and dishwashing for the next week.”

“Oh, okay.” Luhan says, nodding. “...Does he know that?”

Baekhyun leans back and takes another sip. “Nope.”

Luhan laughs, a bit uncomfortably, and the two lapse into silence. Baekhyun glares around the room over the rim of his cup and Luhan tries, valiantly, to look anywhere but at Minseok. He manages to distract himself for a few minutes by focusing on Kris, his face flushed slightly from the alcohol, staring across the room at an oblivious Zitao. Luhan isn’t really sure what their deal is, but Zitao is still talking to Minseok, so he tries to ignore the way Kris doesn’t seem to be blinking and keeps Zitao in his periphery.

Chanyeol eventually appears out of nowhere and flops down on the floor next to Baekhyun, stealing the cup out of his hand and downing the last of the alcohol in it. Baekhyun whines but doesn’t really make much of an effort to get his cup back, or to shove Chanyeol away when he drapes himself over Baekhyun’s lap.

Out of the corner of his eye, Luhan sees Minseok stand up and head for the sliding door leading out onto the balcony. It’s loud enough in the room that no one notices him open it and slip outside, where the blinds drawn over the glass hide him from Luhan’s view. Luhan very nearly vaults himself over the back of the couch to follow him, but forces himself to sit calmly and pretend to pay attention to the hosts’ playful bickering. When he’s sure Baekhyun and Chanyeol are entirely preoccupied with poking each other in the ribs, he gets to his feet and quietly follows Minseok out.

It’s colder on the balcony than Luhan is prepared for it to be, but he slides the door closed behind him and joins Minseok where he’s leaning on the railing, looking out at the dark sky. He makes sure to stand an entire arms-length away, and to not stare too hard at the breath curling out of Minseok’s mouth into the night air.

Minseok must know he’s there, Luhan figures, even if he hasn’t so much as glanced in his direction. He clears his throat just to be sure, and Minseok’s mouth twists.

“Oh,” Minseok says, sarcastically bright. “You actually want to speak to me, now?”

Luhan tries not to fidget. “Uh, yes?” Wasn’t that much obvious, considering he’s out in the cold with him right now? “Yes, I do,” he says, a bit firmer, but Minseok just rolls his eyes.

“You know, Luhan, it’s really cool that only _you_ get to decide when we’re friends or not.” He turns to face Luhan, but he looks angry and hurt and it’s all wrong. Luhan almost wishes he would turn away again.

“I mean, some days it’s nice,” Minseok goes on. “We’ll work together at practice and laugh afterwards and I’ll leave feeling good, but other days...” He smiles bitterly and looks back out over the railing. “It’s like you can’t stand me being next to you on the field.”

Luhan winces. “I’m--”

“Don’t,” Minseok growls, clenching his fists. Luhan closes his mouth. “If it were anyone else, any other position, I could take it just fine. But I _have_ to be beside you.” He steps away from the railing to face Luhan fully. “If you don’t want me there, say so. I’ll tell Kris to find someone else for you.”

Luhan feels like this is the moment during which he should say something coherent, but he also feels a bit like he can’t breathe, Minseok’s words making his chest tight and painful. He struggles to come up with something to fill the silence between them, but Minseok sighs impatiently and starts towards the door.

“I’m gay,” Luhan blurts. Not exactly what he had planned to say, but it makes Minseok stop, at least. “Not that that’s-- I mean.” He swallows, looking down. “Yeah.”

Minseok turns around and blinks at him. “... Alright.”

Luhan nods and clears his throat, shoving his hands into his pockets so Minseok can’t see them shake.

“Yixing was the first person who didn’t, um. Have a problem. When I told him.” He glances up to make sure Minseok is still there, then ducks his head again. “I’ve always leaned on him, I guess? So when he decided to leave the team, it felt a bit like-- like he was leaving me, too.”

He pauses, trying not to let his voice crack. “So on the field I’d look over and expect to see him, but now it’s you instead, and I--”

“I’m sorry,” Minseok cuts him off, stepping forward, but Luhan shakes his head.

“No, you shouldn’t be. I was the one being a dick.” Minseok frowns, but Luhan continues before he can say anything else. “I mean, you didn’t do anything wrong, and I… I should’ve been nicer. Especially since you were nice even when I wasn’t. And you’re clever, and funny, and _really fucking good_ at soccer, and...” He slows to a stop, noticing the amused smirk on Minseok’s face.

“And?”

“And you deserve better than…” Luhan gestures at himself. “This.”

Minseok smiles at him, a real smile, and leans back on the railing, closer than he was before. Luhan lets himself smile back.

It’s weird, how those thoughts that he never dared to voice fell out of his mouth just for Minseok to hear - but Luhan would rather focus on the fact that Minseok, close enough to touch and smiling, doesn’t hate him.

“Maybe I should tell Kris to find someone else to be striker,” Luhan says jokingly, but Minseok makes a serious face and shakes his head.

“No way,” he says. “This is your team, don’t drop it just like that.”

“It’s your team too,” Luhan points out.

“Yeah,” Minseok says, “and I want you on it.”

Luhan momentarily forgets what words are. He’s pretty sure he feels a blush creeping up his neck, but Minseok just grins.

“Let’s win the next game, okay?”

Luhan grins right back at him. “Hell yeah.”

\--

Their next game is on monday, against the team from a college across town. It’s taking place on their field though, so Luhan walks to the park with his cleats slung around his neck and prepares to be the first one there.

He left early on purpose, wanting to be around when Minseok arrives so he can spend as much time as possible with him before they have to actually play. There are probably better ways to make it clear that he definitely wants to be friends, but latching onto Minseok pre-game was the first thing Luhan thought of, and therefore what he plans to go through with. Although, he considers, watching puffs of breath dissipate in the cold morning air, perhaps leaving his apartment an entire hour before he needed to was pushing it a bit.

Flexing his half-frozen fingers, Luhan makes his way across the park and onto the empty field - except it isn’t empty, and there are two boys sitting in the grass on the sidelines. Luhan is struck for a moment at the thought of someone else being dumb enough to leave their warm, comfortable bed earlier than they had to, before recognizing one of them as Joonmyun and waving when he glances over. The other boy sits up a bit straighter as Joonmyun jumps to his feet.

“Good morning!” He greets, waving Luhan closer. “You’re earlier than usual.”

“You’re even earlier than me,” Luhan says, bumping their shoulders together. He looks down at the boy on the ground, who blinks up at him. “You brought a friend?”

“He’s my roommate,” Joonmyun explains. “This is Jongdae. Jongdae, Luhan.”

Jongdae waves, smiling shyly, and Luhan returns it. “Are you here to watch us play? The game doesn’t start for a couple hours...”

“It’s okay, I brought a book,” Jongdae says, gesturing to his bag. “I don’t know much about soccer, anyway. You guys won’t mind me being here, right?”

“For the game, it’s fine,” Luhan says, glancing at Joonmyun. “But for pre-game practice--”

“I know we’re not supposed to have anyone watch during warm ups,” Joonmyun says quickly, stepping forward, “but he only moved in with me a few days ago and he doesn’t have a key yet, so I thought it would be okay for him to just... stay here until we’re done? I didn’t have time to ask Kris about it before we got here, but it should be okay, right?” He glances down at Jongdae. “He can just sit here, he won’t even bother us. He’ll be good, I swear.”

“I’m not a dog,” Jongdae grumbles. Joonmyun ignores him.

Luhan looks back and forth between them. “I don’t think Kris will care that much,” he says, and Joonmyun visibly relaxes. “He’ll probably be preoccupied with making sure we don’t mess up formation. And fixing it when we inevitably do.”

As if on cue, Kris appears on the field with Zitao at his heels, and barely glances at Jongdae before roping Luhan and Joonmyun into helping him set up. Together the four players straighten the nets and mark out the course they’ll use in practice, and by the time they’ve finished the other team members are just starting to show up.

Luhan manages to hold himself back from literally sprinting across the field when Minseok arrives, but he can’t help sighing in relief when the other boy waves at him, even if it does get him a dramatic eye-roll from Sehun. He waves back with a wide grin, nearly bouncing on the spot as Minseok approaches. They barely have time to say hello before Kris calls everyone together for a pre-game warm up, so Luhan sticks close to Minseok’s side and nudges him every so often. Minseok smiles every time.

Eventually their opponents arrive, and after changing into their uniforms, the two teams line up on the field while Kris and the other captain go over the rules.

“There’s actually a crowd,” Minseok whispers to Luhan, looking at the small group of people gathered to watch on the sidelines.

Luhan snorts. “Don’t worry, half of them are only here to watch Kris get all sweaty.”

“I’m not worried,” Minseok says indignantly, but he glances at the crowd again and steps a tiny bit closer to Luhan. Luhan bites his lip to keep from smiling.

Soon enough, the captains nod to each other and the lines break apart, the two teams gathering together on their separate sides of the field. Kris clears his throat as the 8 of them stand in a tight circle, and starts in on his usual pre-game pep talk.

For a moment, Luhan feels weird - like something’s missing, even though he knows everything is in order. He glances around the circle just in case, but every player is ready and nodding along to whatever Kris is saying. Yixing isn’t, of course, because he’s not there, and that sudden thought makes Luhan’s throat a little tight, but then they’re breaking apart to get into position on the field, and he doesn’t have time to dwell on it.

Minseok grabs Luhan’s hand before he can get more than half a step away, smiling when Luhan turns back around to blink at him confusedly. He holds Luhan’s gaze for a few seconds, squeezing his fingers gently before slipping away and following the others. Luhan stares after him, feeling a smile curving on his own lips, and jogs over to his position with no lump in his throat at all.

Kris raises his eyebrows at him in the few seconds before they start, but gives him a short nod of approval when Luhan can only beam back at him. He’s still grinning when the game begins with a shrill whistle, and he’s pretty sure he scares one of the other team’s midfielders into tripping over the ball when he comes running at them, but it’s a good start and bodes well for the rest of the game.

They haven’t played a match for real points since adding Minseok to their lineup, and the entire team is in high spirits. Luhan is pretty sure he hears Zitao actually growl at a defender who gets in his way, and Joonmyun seems especially determined, backing Kris up on nearly every move. Luhan wonders for a moment if it has anything to do with how Jongdae, still on the sidelines, hasn’t even opened the book he brought to read, but then Minseok dashes past him and he focuses back on the game.

He and Minseok can’t quite read each other’s moves yet, but they make a few good passes that Luhan knows they wouldn’t’ve been able to pull off a couple weeks beforehand. Still, it’s not until the beginning of the second half that they manage anything out of the ordinary.

Both of the opposing team’s defenders appear in front of Luhan when he’s making his way to their goal, mid-sprint with the ball between his feet. He glances at Minseok and kicks the ball to him, dashing past the defenders so he’s open to receive when Minseok kicks it back, over the defenders’ heads and directly into Luhan’s path. He takes a shot and notices, belatedly, that he and Minseok had never practiced that set up before.

It was usually hard enough to get themselves lined up with each other on the field, Luhan notorious for getting too far ahead of Minseok to be able to pass to him, and Minseok always just a little too far away. But this time Minseok had been there, keeping up with Luhan and ready to back him up without even being told how - and it had worked.

The ball goes in and the team cheers, but Luhan turns away from the net to face Minseok as he ducks between the defenders and comes to a stop by Luhan’s side. It doesn’t quite feel real, and they stare at each other for a moment, breathing hard, before exhilaration crashes over them and they both start screaming.

“It went in!” Minseok yells. “Did we actually just--”

“We did, we did!” Resisting the urge to jump up and down, Luhan grabs Minseok’s hands and squeezes hard. “We scored, that was so fucking awesome!”

“ _You_ scored,” Minseok corrects him, still grinning wide.

“ _We_ scored,” Luhan insists, and tugs Minseok into a tight hug. He can feel Minseok laughing as he throws his arms around Luhan’s shoulders.

It’s a pretty nice hug, even as sweaty as they both are, so Luhan keeps holding on and Minseok does too, until the adrenaline starts to fade and neither of them are laughing anymore. Minseok’s breath ghosts over Luhan’s neck and makes him shiver, but he keeps a grip on Minseok’s hand when he pulls away.

Minseok is flushed and bright-eyed and still smiling at him, and Luhan opens his mouth to say something - he’s not really sure what - when he’s interrupted by a loud throat-clearing from across the field. They both look up to see all the other players standing around somewhat awkwardly.

“Are you guys done?” Kris calls to them. “There’s still fifteen minutes left on the clock, so, whenever you’re ready.”

Luhan closes his mouth and drops Minseok’s hand, and the game resumes.

The rest of the second half is mostly uneventful, except for when Sehun trips over his own feet and Chanyeol is too busy laughing at him to stop the next shot the other team takes on his net, and when Luhan nearly misses a really obvious pass while he’s caught up thinking about the way Minseok’s chest felt pressed against his.

The scores are tied when the final whistle blows, and Kris agrees to have a rematch in a few days.

The team is in a good mood after the game, quickly changing back into their clothes and filtering out of the change room, but Luhan weaves around everyone in search of the only person he really wants to celebrate with. He finds Minseok near the back of the room, slowly packing up his things and looking a bit too sad for Luhan’s liking.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, crossing his arms when Minseok doesn’t look up. “That was better than our last game, wasn’t it?”

Minseok sighs, zipping his bag shut and slinging it over his shoulder. “It was, yeah,” he says, straightening up. “But this was my first actual game with this team, and I…” He looks down again, frustrated. “I wanted to win.”

Luhan stares at him for a moment, then laughs and reaches out to pinch his cheek. Minseok bats his hand away, trying his best not to smile, but Luhan hangs onto his fingers instead. “We’ll win the next one, okay?” he says. “Promise.”

Minseok glances down at their hands and then back up at Luhan, smiling for real this time. “Okay.”

\--

It’s not until Luhan gets home that every bit of exhilaration leaves him and he realises just how much time he spent touching Minseok throughout the day, so he sits on the kitchen floor and calls Yixing.

“I’m having a crisis,” he says as soon as the line picks up, and Yixing laughs but agrees to see him.

They meet up at the park even though it’s gotten dark out, and Yixing tosses the soccer ball he brought at Luhan’s head before they settle into silently passing it back and forth.

Yixing is the first to speak, sounding a little nervous. “This isn’t you trying to convince me to rejoin the team or something, is it?”

“No, it’s not,” Luhan says quickly. “This is completely, entirely different.”

“...So, what is it?”

“Give me a minute, alright,” Luhan grumbles. “I’m better with words when I’m not, you know, thinking about them.”

Yixing nods slowly, not really understanding, but he stays quiet until Luhan takes a deep breath.

“So, Minseok,” he starts, and kicks the ball. “Things weren’t great for a while, but we’re friends now. Finally.” Yixing hums and passes back to him, and Luhan clears his throat. “Sometimes it’s weird, though? Like, sometimes I’ll just… notice something different.” He thinks, briefly, of water droplets rolling down Minseok’s spine, and immediately pushes the thought away.

“I mean, we scored a goal today, and I don’t remember anything from afterwards except--” _His face in your shoulder_ , his brain helpfully supplies, _his breath on your neck_.

“Except?”

“I was holding his hand,” Luhan blurts before he can think better of it. “I was holding it, and then the moment was over, but I didn’t want to let go.” He kicks the ball once more, harder than he needs to, but Yixing doesn’t even try to lunge for it. Confused, Luhan looks up to see Yixing grinning at him.

“What?” he huffs.

“Luhan,” Yixing sing-songs, forgetting the ball and walking over to him. “You _like_ him.”

“Yes,” Luhan says, then blushes and shakes his head. “No, what? I think I-- Maybe.”

“It’s cute,” Yixing says, and Luhan squawks in embarrassment. “But shouldn’t you be telling him instead of me?”

“Are you insane?” Luhan nearly shrieks. “This is a fairly recent development, Yixing, and I am not-- I don’t think either of us are quite prepared to-- to--”

Yixing shushes him and helps him sit down on the grass, rubbing his back while he tries to catch his breath. Eventually, sufficiently calm, Luhan flops down on his back and looks up at the sky, and Yixing sits quietly beside him.

“I don’t even know if he’s into guys,” Luhan says, after a minute of silence. “Let alone into me.”

Yixing shrugs. “The best you can do is try,” he says, “and the worst he can say is ‘no’.”

Luhan sighs and rolls over until he’s draped over Yixing’s knees. “He could say a lot of things worse than that.”

Humming, Yixing shakes his head. “I don’t think so. You wouldn’t be into someone who’s that much of a dick.”

Luhan snorts. “How are you so sure?”

Yixing smiles down at him. “Because I know you,” he says, and pokes Luhan in the forehead.

\--

Luhan finally plucks up the courage to talk to Minseok about it after practice the next day, when Minseok is about to leave the change room and Luhan makes a split-second decision to grab his arm at the last moment.

“Do you want to get dinner together?” he asks, and maybe he should’ve had a lead-in line instead of asking outright, but before Minseok can open his mouth to reply, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo appear beside him.

“I could go for that,” Chanyeol says, adjusting his backpack. “Do you have somewhere in mind?”

“Uh,” Luhan says.

Kyungsoo takes out his phone. “What’s a place that can take eight people with no reservation?”

Chanyeol shrugs, waving Kris down as he’s on his way out. “Yo, team dinner?”

Kris glances at Luhan and then back at Chanyeol. “Sure, but I’m not paying for it.”

“Fair enough.”

“There’s a place a couple blocks away,” Kyungsoo says, scrolling a web page on his phone. Chanyeol cheers and marches the team out of the change room, until only Minseok and Luhan are left.

Sighing heavily, Luhan lets go of Minseok’s arm and steps back. “That didn’t go exactly as I planned.”

Minseok just laughs. “Come on,” he says, taking Luhan’s hand and leading him out of the room. “Maybe Chanyeol will pay for us too.”

\--

The table they get placed at is just a bit too small for eight people to sit comfortably, but Joonmyun insists that it will be a better team-bonding experience if they’re as close together as possible. Luhan doesn’t mind as much as everyone else seems to, eagerly scooting over until he’s nearly pressed against Minseok. Sehun’s sharp elbows end up a little too close to his ribs, but he figures it’s worth it.

In the lull after everyone places their orders, Kris clears his throat and stares across the table at Minseok. “So,” he says, managing to sound both conversational and intimidating, “it’s been a few weeks. How are you adjusting?”

“To us, he means,” Joonmyun jumps in. “To the team. Is it okay?”

Minseok blinks. “It’s great,” he says, looking around the table. “You’re all great. I’m thankful that you gave me the chance to play with you.”

Luhan beams and slings his arm over Minseok’s shoulders. “You’re not so bad yourself, you know.”

“We’re not the first team you’ve played for, though,” Kris says, more a statement than a question. Minseok shakes his head.

“I played in high school,” he explains, “but I had to stop in my final year, because of… college and things.”

“What things?” Zitao immediately asks, and Luhan watches Minseok’s cheeks turn a bright shade of pink.

“Just-- applications, and stuff, and-- and there was this, this internship, but--”

On the other end of the table, Chanyeol whistles. “Why’d you never tell us any of this before?”

“You never asked,” Minseok splutters.

“Well, we’re asking now,” Luhan says, rubbing his shoulder. “So? How did you end up with us?”

“Origin story!” Chanyeol cheers. Kris shushes him.

Luhan watches Minseok carefully. Chanyeol has a point - he’s yet to share anything much about himself with any member of the team, as far as Luhan knows. Even so, he looks uncomfortable having everyone’s curiosities focused on him, twisting his hands in his lap. Luhan shifts a tiny bit closer and smooths his hand over Minseok’s back.

“What was the internship for?” Kris asks gently, and Minseok lets out a long breath.

“Graphic design,” he says eventually. “I was looking for schools or companies that could help me find more of a focus, so I kind of applied all over the place? The offer I ended up accepting was from this one company that was willing to pay for my studies as well. It was a bit far from home, though--”

“How far?” Sehun cuts in.

“Um,” Minseok says. “China?”

Luhan gapes at him. Across the table, Zitao sits up a little. “ _Nǐ huì shuō Zhōngwén ma_?”

“ _Yī diǎn diǎn_ ,” Minseok answers, smiling shyly. “I only lived there for a year and a bit. It was nice and all, and the internship was good, but...” He bites his lip, looking down at the table. “I was Xiumin, over there. And after a while, I think I missed being Minseok.”

A murmur of understanding goes around the table, and Luhan squeezes Minseok’s shoulder. He knows well enough what it’s like to miss home, to miss the feeling of belonging somewhere - it’s what he and Yixing connected on at first. He doesn’t miss Beijing as much as he used to, not since finding his place in the team, and he wants Minseok to find his place too.

It hits him, suddenly, that maybe Minseok’s not fitting in was partially his fault - he hasn’t been the best teammate, after all, and if Minseok came back in search of a place to belong, Luhan definitely played a part in not letting him settle. His heart sinks a little, watching Minseok struggle to come up with his next words.

“I didn’t finish the internship, to say the least,” he continues, laughing a little. “Just dropped it and flew back home. I transferred to the college in September, and when I saw flyers advertising soccer tryouts…” He shrugs, shy again. “I thought it might be fun, something to look forward to every week. I signed up on a whim, more than anything.”

“I’m glad you did,” Luhan says suddenly. The rest of the table whoops in agreement, applauding, but Minseok looks more startled than anything. Their eyes meet and Luhan decides, right then, that he’ll make sure Minseok never feels out of place again.

Their waitress chooses that moment to arrive with plates, but when Minseok leans back against Luhan’s arm, his smile is wider than everyone else’s.

\--

After dinner the eight of them disperse outside the restaurant, going their separate ways with promises to be on time for the rematch game the next morning. Luhan lingers while Minseok zips up his jacket, waiting until the others are entirely out of earshot before tugging on Minseok’s sleeve.

“Since that didn’t really go according to plan,” he says sheepishly, “can I buy you coffee?”

Minseok smiles at him, cheeks flushed from the cold. “Again? You should come up with something different next time.”

Luhan huffs, starting to walk. “Maybe there wont be a next time, if you’re so ungrateful.” Minseok just laughs, linking their arms together and letting Luhan lead the way down the street. Luhan tries his best to remember how to walk without getting distracted by the warmth against his side.

They end up at the same shop they went to weeks earlier, across from each other at the same table by the window. It’s a lot like that first time they had coffee together, except this time they both sit comfortably and conversation comes easily. Luhan watches Minseok as he speaks, wondering how he ever managed to dislike him. How had he sat so close to him before, without wanting to climb over the table and touch his face and-- and--

Luhan shakes his head, dislodging the thought. Now is not the time, not when he’s supposed to be having civilized conversation in a coffee shop with large windows. He lets Minseok steal a sip of his drink and tries not to think too hard about the way he licks the foam off his lips.

“Why did you want to go to dinner, anyway?” Minseok asks, tapping his fingers against the side of his cup.

“Uh,” Luhan says. He hadn’t really thought this one out. “For good luck, you know. What with the rematch tomorrow.”

Minseok nods slowly, taking another sip. Luhan realizes, a bit too late, that it doesn’t make much sense for him to ask only Minseok out for a good luck dinner, even if the whole team did come along in the end. Luckily, Minseok doesn’t press any further. He gives Luhan a weird sort of look though, and Luhan wipes his entire face on his sleeve just in case.

They part ways outside the shop with a hug that Minseok pulls Luhan into, softer than the one they had on the field, and Luhan curls his fingers into Minseok’s coat.

“See you tomorrow,” Minseok mumbles into his shoulder, and then they’re pulling away to walk in opposite directions.

Luhan gets about ten steps down the street before he feels like something’s building in his chest, and he turns around before he can stop himself.

“Minseok!” he yells down the street, and Minseok turns around, bewildered. “Let’s win tomorrow, okay?”

Minseok laughs and nods, and Luhan grins back at him and waves until he disappears around the corner.

\--

Luhan feels that something is amiss as soon as their opponents show up on the field the next morning, but it’s not until they’ve finished warming up and are wandering around waiting for the game to start that he realizes what’s wrong.

“Um,” he says, catching Sehun’s arm as he jogs past. “Is it just me, or did they switch their centre-midfielder for a stack of bricks?”

Sehun stares at him. “I think you need glasses.”

“A nimble stack of bricks,” Luhan continues, “capable of kicking the ball across the entire field?”

“They changed their lineup,” Kyungsoo says, joining them. “It’s not actually allowed, but Kris has too much pride to tell them off. He doesn’t want to suggest that we think we can’t win against their new player.”

“Even though said player could probably snap the majority of ours in half,” Luhan sighs. “Remind me to thank _duìzhǎng_ for always looking after our well-being.”

As terrifying as their new opponent looks, Luhan isn’t overly worried - he’s small and fast and can probably get around most of the other players as long as he avoids that one. Besides, Kris doesn’t look half as murderous as Luhan expected.

Minseok, on the other hand, is freaking out.

“How are we going to survive this?” he asks, twisting his hands in the fabric of his uniform. “It was more chance than anything that we even tied the last game, and now _this_ \--”

“Don’t say that,” Luhan whines, nudging his shoulder. “We were awesome last time, we’ll be awesome again.”

‘I’m worried for my life,” Minseok groans, and flops down on the grass with his hands over his face. Luhan sits beside him and looks around the field.

“Well,” he says, squinting at the sidelines, “Jongdae is watching again today, so Joonmyun wont miss any passes on that side of the field. Kris is over there helping Zitao tie his cleats, probably whispering either strategy or sweet nothings to him… And you know, I don’t think Kyungsoo looks quite as frail as usual today.” He glances down at Minseok, who peeks at him through his fingers. “Better?”

“Not really,” Minseok sighs, “but thanks for trying.”

Luhan makes a face at him, but a sharp tug on his hair makes him yelp and whirl around.

Yixing is standing behind him, arms crossed, trying to look serious. “You should be nicer to your teammates,” he says, but he breaks into a smile as Luhan scrambles to stand up. “You should also tell me when your games are so I don’t miss any more than I already have, dummy.”

Luhan just barely holds back a shriek, throwing his arms around Yixing’s waist. “What is this?” Yixing laughs, hugging him back. “I saw you two days ago, remember?”

“Shut up,” Luhan grumbles, pulling back. “It’s different, you being here when we’re about to play.”

Yixing hums. “I guess it’s kind of strange to be the only one not in uniform…” He shrugs. “Surprise, or something.”

Luhan’s breath hitches a bit. It _is_ weird being in his jersey and cleats when Yixing isn’t, and the thought of going on the field while he just watches from the side feels worse now that he’s actually _here_ , but then Minseok gets to his feet and the feeling disappears when he comes to stand by Luhan’s side.

“Oh,” Yixing says, smiling again, “is this...?”

Luhan nods, grinning, and tugs Minseok forward. “This is Minseok, our new forward. Minseok, Yixing.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Minseok says shyly.

“Likewise,” Yixing says, and Luhan wills himself not to blush. “Are you guys doing alright?”

Minseok glances warily across the field at the other team, shuddering when the brick-like midfielder laughs loudly. Luhan puts an arm around his shoulders. “We’re leaning more towards ‘doomed’, actually.”

“That guy could knock me down with a light brush of his fingers,” Minseok hisses.

Yixing looks over, sizing up the new player. “So,” he says, “don’t let him touch you.”

Minseok blinks at him, then nods very slowly. Luhan raises his eyebrows, but then Kris is calling the team onto the field, and Yixing wishes them luck before he shoos them away.

“Okay, well,” Kris starts, once the team is gathered into a circle, “they might be bigger than us, but we’re faster than them, so if we can keep possession then we have a chance. Also, if anyone trips you, pull them down with you.”

Luhan glances back at Yixing, at the front of the crowd on the sidelines, who shoots him a thumbs-up. “And mostly,” Kris says, looking around the circle, “don’t die. Alright. Break.”

They spread out and take up their positions across the field, and Minseok catches Luhan’s eye just before the whistle blows. Luhan flashes a grin before taking off after the ball.

This game feels more intense than the last, but Luhan isn’t sure if it’s because everyone is feeling good or if everyone is just scared half to death of coming into contact with the brick house on the other team. Everyone except Kris, that is, who meets said player head-on every chance he gets. Luhan vows to make him a thank-you card.

Kyungsoo gets bowled over only once, close to the end of the first half, but he gets up immediately and steals the ball out from under the opposing forward’s feet before he can take a shot. He passes to Zitao, who gets across the centre line with the ball before someone trips him and takes it, but then Kris appears out of nowhere and steals it back, passing to Joonmyun before circling back to help Zitao up.

It’s Joonmyun who scores their first goal, and when the team cheers for him he smiles and looks over at Jongdae on the sidelines. They wave at each other, and Luhan is pretty sure he’s never seen Jongdae looks so enthusiastic about anything.

The teams are tied 1-1 when the second half starts. The ball doesn’t really move up the field much for a while, both sides determined to not let it slip past their defenders. Eventually, Zitao slips past one of the less-menacing midfielders and makes a brilliant pass to Luhan, and suddenly things seem to slow down.

Luhan glances up and meets Minseok’s eyes just before he takes off towards the goal, and Minseok weaves around the line of defense, staying just close enough so that Luhan, when said defense tries to push him to the sidelines, can pass to him easily, with barely any wind up. Once Minseok has the ball he shoots off towards the goal and Luhan sprints after him.

It’s then that their brick-like opponent shows up, appearing in Minseok’s path with his limbs spread to block. Luhan gears up to sacrifice himself in an attempt to get him out of the way, when Minseok ducks under the player’s arm and spins, stepping around him entirely and keeping the ball between his feet. It’s some of the coolest footwork Luhan has ever seen, and by the time brick man whirls around, Minseok is already taking a shot.

It goes in, and Luhan tackles Minseok to the ground.

The entire team erupts into cheers, louder and more excited than the crowd watching. Luhan thinks Zitao might be crying instead, but he’s too focused on being sprawled on top of and wrapped around Minseok to be sure.

“You did it!” Luhan yells, letting go and pushing himself up on his hands. Underneath him, Minseok laughs. “You fucking did it, oh my god--”

Minseok seems a little dazed, on his back in the grass, but props up on his elbows and grins at Luhan all the same. “I guess I did.”

Luhan leans back down and kisses him hard, right there on the field, and Minseok kisses back.

He can’t hear anything except the blood rushing in his ears until they break apart, staring at each other and breathing hard, and then their team’s yelling fades back in as they gather around. Neither of them can stop smiling even as Luhan stands up, pulling Minseok with him, and the other six huddle around them, still cheering. In the middle of it all, Luhan squeezes Minseok’s hand.

“There’s six minutes left,” Kris tells them when the huddle eventually breaks, “and fuck if they think we’re letting this game end with anything other than a win for us.”

Chanyeol howls - actually fucking _howls_ \- and in any other situation they would pretend to not know him, but in this moment the rest of the team gives a yell of agreement. Even Zitao looks determined in between loud sniffles, and the game starts again.

Luhan tries his absolute hardest to focus on the ball, but his gaze keeps jumping to Minseok and his flushed cheeks. His lips are distracting too, now that they’re red and a bit swollen. Luhan misses a pass and Kris smacks him in the back of the head as he runs by.

Six minutes feels like forever but Chanyeol blocks every single shot the other team takes, only needing to use his face once before the final whistle blows and the game is over.

Yixing is the first one on the field, rushing over to Luhan to crush him in a hug before he laughs and pushes him towards Minseok instead. Minseok smiles almost shyly when Luhan grips his hand again, but then Joonmyun gets tackled by Jongdae a few feet away, and they can’t help grinning. Their team says goodbyes to their opponents, shaking hands with everyone including the brick house, before filtering off the field and into the change room. Luhan feels a hand cramp coming on, but he still holds on to Minseok for as long as he can.

\--

Once everyone has changed out of their uniforms and calmed down a little they disperse outside, but Luhan hangs back outside the door to wait for Minseok to finish showering. He gets a few pats on the back as team members walk past him, as well as a tearful hug from Zitao. Kris, following him, pauses in the doorway for a moment.

“Since we did dinner last night, we need a different way to celebrate,” he says. “So the plan is--”

“Alcohol,” Chanyeol declares as he shuffles past them, only slightly muffled by the towel pressed over his bloody nose.

“Generally,” Kris agrees. He claps Luhan on the shoulder and leaves.

Luhan waits a few more minutes before he deciding that Minseok is taking too long, and steps back inside the change room to look for him. He finds him near the back again, fully dressed and ready to go, just looking at his reflection in the mirror above the sinks. He doesn’t look sad like last time, so Luhan moves forward until he knows Minseok can see his reflection in the mirror too.

“Hey,” he calls, and Minseok turns around with a smile. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Minseok sighs, leaning back against the counter. “It’s just… it’s been quite a day.”

Luhan nods, stepping closer until there’s only inches between them. “You were great,” he says, soft. “You always are.”

Minseok blushes but doesn’t look away. “You were, too.”

“Hardly,” Luhan snorts, shaking his head. “I’m not the one who did a barrell roll around stack-of-bricks--”

“Who?”

“That guy, you know, the one who was…” He trails off, eyes narrowing as Minseok struggles to hold back laughter. Luhan pokes his cheek. “Nevermind. Anyway, since it’s been such a day, if you need help to, like--” He takes one more tiny step forward, and Minseok bites his lip. “--unwind, you know--”

Minseok leans in and kisses him, and Luhan smiles into it, pressing him back against the counter. He drags his fingers through Minseok’s hair, still damp from the shower, and lets Minseok tug him closer by his hips until they’re pressed together. It’s nice, kissing Minseok, licking along the seam of his lips until he opens his mouth with a soft moan. He slides one hand up under Luhan’s shirt, scraping his nails across his spine as Luhan nips at his bottom lip.

It’s right then, of course, that Luhan’s stomach growls. Minseok breaks the kiss to laugh breathily and Luhan hides his face in Minseok’s shoulder.

“Dinner, then?” Minseok asks, gently pushing Luhan away and picking his bag up off the floor.

“I’m usually much more romantic,” Luhan mumbles.

“It’s alright, I got the gist of it,” Minseok laughs. He grabs Luhan by the hand and tugs him outside. “You can try again later.”

Luhan raises his eyebrows. “How much later are we talking? Like, tomorrow-later, or tonight-later? Or restaurant-bathroom-later, or--

Minseok stops walking and puts his hand over Luhan’s mouth. “Let’s do dinner,” he says, smiling, “and go from there.”

“Okay,” Luhan says. He can do that.


End file.
